Chapter 82 - Show of strength

Daichi smirked, hearing their comments. "Like I said before. A bunch of fools."

"This kid is getting on my nerves." The leader of the team was aggravated hearing the child.

Daichi looked at the three nonchalantly. A cold smile grew on his face as he looked at them.

"Based on your outfits I'd say you're not from the leaf. And judging by your voice and the pheromones you give out I'd say you're females. Ages approximately between 23 and 28. Based on your chakra level and shuriken jutsu skills I'm guessing chunin ranks."

The enemy spies stiffened as they heard the child speak. Daichi looked at the three who were now cautious. He continued.

"You're not from the other great nations. I'm absolutely sure they wouldn't send amatures like you three to infiltrate this village." Daichi smirked as he could see the signs of anger as they heard that.

"I also heard rumors that an enemy infiltrator died fighting here in the forest. A single enemy. And your timing here in the village… Less than two weeks after the Uchiha massacre. You wanted to take advantage of the temporary blindspot in the leaf's security. So predictable…"

"You're a lot smarter than you look brat! Too bad. You could have lived if you had just walked away from the beginning. But now… we can't let you leave here alive after knowing about us." The leader who Daichi knew as Ichiko spoke. "And just because you made a few deductions about us doesn't mean you know what we're capable of!"

Daichi smirked. "Don't I? Assuming that person who died was your friend/teammate I'd say you guys are a 4 person squad from one of the minor villages. And I'd say you're the leader of the team." Daichi pointed to Ichika. He then pointed to the one his observation said was Hina.

"And you're the healer of the group aren't you? I can smell the faint scents of several herbs on your fingers. And then there's your chakra… Based on what I sensed and the properties of your chakra, I can tell that you're all fire style jutsus users…" Daichi smirked as he finished.

Daichi remembered one of the lessons his grandfather imparted onto him.

Flashback.

It was an evening day and Daichi and Kensei were having a Shogi match.

"In a battle, attacking your enemy's mental state is just as important as attacking their body." Kensei said as he moved another piece on their shogi board.

Daichi looked at the move his grandfather just made and cautiously chose his next step. "You're talking about psychological warfare, aren't you?"

"Yes! If you are able to unbalance your opponent, affect his mental state, no matter how big or small, it will have an effect on the battlefield. And sometimes that could be the deciding factor in a life or death battle."

"I see."

Flashback End.

Daichi looked at the three. "Tell me, have I gotten anything wrong?"

The three spies couldn't believe that a child would be able to analyze them so quickly and with minimal interactions. They took the child in front of them much more seriously.

"No! You're right about everything." The leader took off her face clothes revealing her face and headband. The other two followed.

"The village hidden in the Waterfalls." Daichi said, looking at their headbands.

"That's right. You're smart. Much smarter than we gave you credit for. Letting you leave here will be a mistake." The leader Ichiko clenched her sword and got ready to attack.

You have sensed killing intent.

Daichi just smiled. He raised a single hand seal and released the shadow clone. As the chakra and memories of the clone came, Daichi slightly grimaced. 'Yeesh! Naruto and Iruka are not happy with me. Need to find some way to pacify them after I'm done with these three.'

Daichi then focused his attention on the enemies in front of him. 'Make the first move Daichi! Don't let them dictate the battle.'

Several shuriken appeared in Daichi's hands. The next instant they flew at the three spies aimed with precision.

"Dodge!!" Ichiko shouted and the three were able to dodge most of the shuriken but a few still struck them in non vital areas.

The three landed surrounding Daichi. All three of them were now wary of the child.

The team captain Ichiko looked at the child in horror. 'The speed and strength with which those shuriken came… If we were even a second late in dodging… We'd be dead right now… I was wrong. This kid is definitely not some weakling academy student.'

The team healer Hina looked at her wounds and then the wounds on her teammates. Her heart was pounding in her chest. 'All the injuries seem non lethal. But it was only luck that we escaped with such minor wounds. Those shuriken were aimed at our vitals. This child. He was aiming to kill.'

The last member of the team, Akari, looked at Daichi with newfound caution and slight fear. 'His shurikenjutsu skills show that he's fought with other highly trained ninjas before. The skills and the deadly precision… He was looking to kill us. There is no way he's an academy student.'

With revealing their secrets and unbalancing them mentally and with just one show of force, Daichi put pressure on the three enemy kunoichis.

You have sensed killing intent.

"Attack." The team captain Ichiko gave the order and rushed towards Daichi with her sword aimed at his head. The other two followed suit. Three of them rushed towards Daichi as fast as they could.

But to Daichi they were painfully slow. He was on alert and looked at the three coming. His face showed no signs of distress.

'Why am I not feeling any fear? These three… Even though I'm outnumbered and they intend to kill me, I don't sense any threat from them. My heart is beating normally and I'm so calm. It's as if my body isn't registering them as a threat. Is it because they're pitifully weak… or have I gotten that strong?'

Daichi sidestepped and evaded the sword swings with minimal effort. He continued dodging the slashes while keeping the same bored expression on his face which only infuriated the enemies. After dodging a few more swings Daichi suddenly disappeared from their view.

"What!? Where'd he go?" The three looked around and after a few seconds found Daichi sitting on a branch looking down at them.

"Who are you? There is no way you're an academy student. What are you? Some kind of secret Jonin?" The leader Ichiko shouted at Daichi.

"No! I am a student at the academy. Third year now." Daichi said with a smile.

"Bullshit! Like I'd believe that." She didn't speak any more and quickly threw several shuriken at Daichi. The other two attacked as well.

Almost two dozen shurikens flew at Daichi. He smirked and took two shuriken and aimed them at the weapons coming at him.

The two shurikens launched by Daichi hit the ones in the front and changed its path, striking the others and starting a chain reaction. In moments all the shuriken were hit and their paths slightly changed and struck the trees surrounding Daichi, and none even got close to him.

The eyes of the three ninjas widened as they saw the scene. 'No way! He was able to deflect all of them with just two shuriken of his own?.!!'

The ninja Akari's eyes widened as she saw what just happened. At that moment a certain memory and an image of a child came to her mind.

Several years ago she was attending her Chunin exam and she saw a child several years younger than her, participating. At first she felt pity and contempt but after seeing his skills throughout the exams she felt fear towards him. She also remembered the cold remorseless eyes of the child as he defeated his enemies with ease. The child's skills, name and image was forever imprinted on her mind. A child she vowed to never go up against.

Akari looked at Daichi with renewed fear. Sweat rolled down her face as she looked up in horror and remembered the memories of her chunin exam. 'This child. His shurikenjutsu skill, his speed and strength… and that cold expression… He… He reminds me of Itachi Uchiha!... There is no mistaking it. This child… He's just like him…'

"Captain! Forget about the mission. We need to leave now!" Akari shouted toward Ichiko.

"What!?" The team captain couldn't believe her ears. 'She wants us to leave? Sure this kid has some skills but… Is she that afraid of a child?'

Akari looked at Daichi in fear. 'I have to tell the village superiors. They have to know… There's another monster hiding in the leaf village.'

"You think you can come and go as you please? What exactly do you take the leaf village for? None of you are going anywhere except back to the village under custody." Daichi said as he heard the words.

He jumped down and looked at the three. They instantly got ready for the second round of battle.

"I've seen your shurikenjutsu skills. Now let's see how good you three are at Taijutsu." Daichi disappeared the next second after saying those words.

"Where'd he go?" As Ichiko looked left and right, she felt a blow striking her back. She was sent flying forward and her sword fell out of her grasp.

Akari and Hina turned around and tried to slash Daichi. He evaded the sword strikes and chopped at their wrists holding the swords. The two were forced to let go of their weapons and Daichi quickly sent the swords flying away from them.

"You're both chunin aren't you? Let's see how good your hand to hand combat skills are…" Daichi attacked the two enemy ninjas.

Both of them struggled to defend themselves let alone land an attack on Daichi.

Daichi was holding back by a wide margin. He was analyzing their fighting style and came to the conclusion that they were weak in Taijutsu skills.

'Even though they have higher levels than me, their strength is far below mine. So this is why I didn't feel any sense of danger from them… These three… They're just pitifully weak. I've seen enough.'

Daichi sent two powerful blows and it sent the two flying and they leaned near their captain. All of them were in pain and struggling to get up.

"I'm only gonna say this once. Surrender now and come quietly." Daichi's tone showed no indication that he felt any mercy for them.

The three stood on shaky legs and looked at the boy in front of them. Ichiko spoke in a low voice. "We can't let him take us. He's strong in Taijutsu and shurikenjutsu so he must not be very good in Ninjutsu. We have to use Synergy jutsu to finish him. Use everything you've got to finish him. Then we'll leave."

The two besides her nodded.

What they didn't realize is that Daichi heard every word. 'Amatures! You want to fight me in Ninjutsu? Go ahead…'

The three ninjas from the hidden waterfall village weaved several signs.

"Synergy jutsu. Fire style - Fire dragon jutsu."

They converted their chakra to fire and spit it out. The three chakra combined to form a single large fire dragon and it headed straight for Daichi.

Seeing the fire dragon coming for him, Daichi's hands went through several seals as well.

'Earth style - Mud wall!'

A strong wall of earth immediately rose from the ground and stood tall. It was several meters tall and over two meters wide.

The giant powerful wall took the full force of the fire dragon attack and a second later there was an explosion. A couple of seconds later the winds blew and the smoke cleared and the enemy spies saw that the giant wall was still there. Aside from a few scorch marks on the wall, there was no other indication that it had been attacked.

"No way!" Their eyes widened looking at him. "We can't beat him. Let's get out of here while he's distracted." Ichiko said and as she turned around to leave she saw Daichi a few feet in front of her. She froze as she looked at the smiling child. The other two were also petrified seeing him.

"Sup!" Daichi greeted them.

He disappeared and struck their pressure points. Within a second all three of them fell on the ground unconscious.

Daichi looked at the three bodies on the ground and then looked up to a certain tree.

"How long are you gonna hide there and watch me like a creep?" Daichi asked the unknown person who was watching everything that had happened.

Seconds later a figure stepped out of the shadows. A ninja with spiky silver hair and left eye covered with his forehead protector and wearing the standard leaf Jonin flak jacket stood on the branch looking down at Daichi.

Both of them stared at each other and didn't say a word.